Monday, April 15, 2013

The last San Diego Crew.

FOREX
was an FBI sting set by the Los Angeles FBI office to snare the LA
Family guys. It all started when an FBI Special Agent, staying with his
wife in Murrieta Hot Springs Hotel, noticed Frank Bompenseiro, Jimmy
Frattiano and Louie Dragna going into the hotel’s restaurant.

The
FBI Agent and his wife were able to get a booth near their table. He
overheard part of their conversation and one thing that was clear from
the part he heard was that Jimmy Frattiano wanted a piece of the porno
business. Frattiano was acting boss of the family along with Louie
Dragna. Frattiano had transferred back from the Chicago outfit in order
to help run the family. The real acting boss should have been Louie
Dragna, but since he was running a multi million dollar garment center
business, he had little interest in taking over the day to day dealings
of his Uncle’s former family. The LA Family had another reason for
wanting Frattiano back with the family.

Frank
Bompenseiro had been one of the heavy guys back in the Jack Dragna
days. He had buried a lot of guys. Frattiano had been another one of
the workers Jack used to carry out LA Family business. The powers in the
LA Family had now grown tired of Bompensiero because even after the
busted him down to soldier he kept doing whatever he wanted in San
Diego. To make matters worse Bompensiero had been bad mouthing the
family to anyone who would listen. The Family now wanted Bompensiero
dead and the only guy who could carry out the hit was Frattiano. They
knew Frattiano was close to him and they knew he could see it through.
This is Cosa Nostra, they always have those that are closest to you
take you out.

Frattiano
and Dragna came up with a plan to put Bompenseiro at ease. They upped
him to the Consigliere position and that made him happy. Bompensiero
had been an FBI informant for ten years at this point, but the FBI, like
the Cosa Nostra, can be ruthless. They knew that Bompensiero had not
been giving them all the information on the family activities. So, the
FBI set up the FOREX sting.

They
let Bompensiero know that a Porno outfit was operating out of the San
Fernando Valley. They told him that FOREX was buying Porno and shipping
it to Mexico. Bompensiero then let the LA Family know about them and
they sent in some guys. The Crew that the family sent in was a misfit
bunch. Anyone interested in knowing more should read The Animal in
Hollywood by Anthony Fiato.

The
guys running FOREX were FBI Agents and they got the whole thing on
tape. The family was soon brought before a Grand Jury and they knew
right away that Bompensiero had set them up. Bompensiero was very
careful and rarely went out after dark. One habit he had was to leave
his Pacific Beach Apartment at night to use a payphone to make calls.
He figured that his home phone was bugged by the FBI or the State.
Someone would call him at his place and he would tell them he would
speak to them later. Bompensiero would then walk to the phone booth and
make his calls.

So
here is what went down. The LA Family had Frattiano call Bompensiero
one night and they just watched him walk to the payphone take the call
and walk home. This was just to see what he did. I am sure that they
watched him a few other nights. The Cosa Nostra does not like to go off
and kill like a cowboy they like to plan it so they get away with it.

So
one night Bompenseiro is told that the boss would like to speak with
him. He walks from his apartment to the phone booth and while he is
there dialing, a car pulls up. Tommy Ricciardi, a Rhode Island
transplant, jumps out with 22.cal with a suppressor on it. Tommy walks
over and fires into Bompenseiro’s head 4 times and this is where urban
legend takes over.

When
the police find Bompensiero he has some dimes scattered near him. They
say it was because he was dropping a dime on guys but maybe he was
carrying them because that is what payphones took at that time. It was
not about sending a message "drop a dime" and die.

It
is also a wonder that Tommy was able to pull it off without keeling
over himself because he had a pacemaker. Tommy fires into Bompenseiro
and jumps back into the car driven by Jack LoCicero and they are gone
into the night. The pistol would not be tossed but would continue to
make its rounds in the LA Family. Read more about it in this book: